For Dr. Maria Elena, the CEO & executive director of View Conference – a top-notch international event on animation, VFX and games – it is not a conference that she puts together every year.
In her view, the View Conference is a community. “It’s like organising a gathering with your friends,” she elaborates. It’s like a party that everyone can participate in and experience.”
2024’s event was indeed an experience to remember, that will stay in a corner of your mind for all time to come. The edition brought brilliant minds like Chris Sanders (The Wild Robot director), Jonathan Nolan (Westworld, Fallout), Rob Coleman (Transformers One creative director & animation supervisor), Hal Hickel (animation director at ILM) and many more under one roof in Turin, Italy from 14 to 19 October 2024. Leading the team that put together this magnanimous event was, who else but, Elena.
An avid reader, writer and a cinephile, dainty but steely looking Elena loves her job. She exudes enthusiasm, energy and optimism – any time of the day or night.
When she travelled to India in late 2024, we sat with her to chat about how she organises such a massive premier event every year without compromising on the quality. With her team, she makes sure that the conference’s vibrant and inclusive atmosphere enlightens and inspires, with a live program comprising talks, presentations, workshops and masterclasses.
One of the standouts of View 2024 was the panel “How it Started: How it’s Going.” The speakers Shannon Tindle (Ultraman Rising director), Amy Smeed (Moana 2 head of animation), Rob Bredow (chief creative officer at ILM) and Megan Brain (paper sculpture designer) shared their journeys in the film industry, discussing their beginnings, first demo reels and vulnerabilities.
Naked emotions were displayed, no pretences were on show from the speakers. For instance, Inside Out 2 director Kelsey Mann shared how his animated feature was drawn from his personal experiences, his struggles with insecurity, anxiety and his fears while growing up.
During his workshop “Make Me Care – About Story,” Josh Cooley – writer on Inside Out and director of Transformers One – showed the audience his childhood photos with his grandfather and opened up about his challenges with his cultural identity. He then invited the audience to share personal stories by asking, “Tell me something about you that I would not be able to tell by looking at you,” creating a heartfelt exchange as he moved around the room with a mic.
As Elena observes, “Josh, the master storyteller, made himself vulnerable in front of the audience. Kelsey Mann’s voice cracked and he was on the verge of tears. That is how these speakers built an emotional connection with everyone present.”
Elena – who was born in Mexico, raised in California and spent a large part of her life teaching cinema – discloses that every session is carefully curated. “Speakers often attend each others’ talks and rewrite their own. That is how the attendees witness outstanding presentations,” she reveals.
She recounts an incident from View 2024: Fede Alvarez (Alien: Romulus, Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead 2013) was initially slated for a Q&A with a journalist. “After attending a few sessions, he decided to deliver a talk instead,” she shares. “He skipped dinner and social activities, spending an entire day in his room preparing a presentation with slides and videos.”
Being a part of View is a labour of love, reveals Elena. Many speakers dedicate months to preparing their talks, ensuring they are deeply meaningful. The energy and care they invest result in polished, impactful sessions, she explains.
“My mission is to make legends accessible to the attendees,” she says–and she has succeeded.
The audience engaged with speakers during talks and masterclasses. She has also observed speakers reviewing portfolios of aspiring artists, holding impromptu sessions in halls, rooms and even staircases. “The young attendees have multiple opportunities to connect with the artists and filmmakers. The speakers are generous with their time and advice. Since the conference is long, people love to stay for the entire experience.”
And there are speakers a-plenty: View 2024 hosted 130 speakers. Nearly 7000 attendees over six days came in and soaked in all the knowledge and tidbits they could from the maestros. On the first day alone, workshops ran simultaneously across 11 rooms. High-profile directors, filmmakers and artists attracted significant press, requiring organisers to arrange numerous interviews.
For Elena, managing logistics with a small team of about 60 is a challenge she tackled well. “We rely on highly qualified people to make it work,” she says.
The bigger hurdle was the budget, which remained tight despite the event’s growing scale. “Local funding has stayed the same over the years. Meanwhile, the costs keep rising,” she reveals with a sigh. “Since 2018, our ticket prices too haven’t changed. Our event fundamentally depends on these ticket sales and private funding, so managing expenses is an ongoing challenge.”
View is not really a new conference, it has been around for all of 25 years. But it was really a local, European conference. And then came the Covid epidemic which gave the world the killer cold, leading to nation-wide lockdowns, and travel bans. Everyone ran for cover, into the protection their homes offered.
With all the restrictions in place, it was almost impossible to pull off another edition of View. Elena’s riposte – like many other event organisers at that time – go online.
“During 2020, our team had to find ways of staying industry-relevant. So we started organising free online sessions with the artists behind the latest film releases. That’s how we expanded our network and reached people worldwide. The big names in Hollywood discovered the conference. And we went from 10,000 on-ground participants in 2019 to 2,10,000 online attendees. Now when we are back on the ground, we see participation from Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela and so many countries,” she says, highlighting the event’s growing impact with a big happy smile.
For Elena, who has been leading View since 2005, timing is of utmost importance in organising a conference this massive. “If we start early, we can give love and attention to the program line-up without missing out on details.” The 2024 edition ended in October and artists are already reaching out to her for the 2025 edition. “I don’t even have time to take a vacation,” she laughs.
Every conference has its delightful spontaneous moments. “But to experience the magic of meeting Jonathan Nolan, Fede Alvarez and all the incredible animators and VFX supervisors, you have to attend,” she exclaims. “Both speakers and first-time attendees often keep coming back.”
Elena’s fervour for cinema and storytelling are evident in her movie reviews, where she dissects stories, analysing every aspect from camera to music, and infuses her own perspective and emotions. It is no surprise then, that she creates such a carefully-crafted program for one of the world’s premium animation-VFX conferences.
Some have compared her to a masterful painter, who measures every brush stroke on canvas, plans every colour, details every imperfection or perfection on the subject’s face; until the finished painting is a view to behold and marvel at; just like the View Conference she puts together has become.
Mark your calendars – View Conference 2025 is set to take place from 12 to 17 October.
